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A tornado warning was an unexpected addition to Willy Week. Rice University’s Crisis Management Team used the emergency notification system last Wednesday to advise students, faculty and the rest of the Rice community to seek shelter from a possible tornado.

In the wake of Trump’s executive order banning travellers from six majority-Muslim nations and reports of potential changes to visa policies, international students at Rice are left reassessing their ability to stay in the U.S. after graduation. Rice is home to more than 1,600 international undergraduates and graduates from 94 countries, comprising almost a quarter of the degree-seeking population.

The Alcohol Policy Advisory Committee has released a report with 25 recommendations for the enforcement of Rice’s Alcohol Policy, but did not suggest modifying the policy itself. The recommendations of the committee, which was convened by Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson in October, included shifting the event registration process out of Student Judicial Programs, supporting the residential college justice system and adding more education on the policy throughout the year.

The School of Social Sciences is introducing a new major to replace the policy studies major in fall 2017 in response to student feedback. If approved by the Faculty Senate at its April 19 meeting, the social policy analysis major will be the first of its kind in the United States, according to Dean of Social Sciences Antonio Merlo.

Three candidates are vying for the Student Association internal vice president position in the second round general election: former Sid Richardson College Senator Sarah Meadow, former Jones College Senator Rohan Palanki and former SA treasurer Maurice Frediere. No candidates ran for the position in the first round of the general election before Spring Break.

Senior point guard Maya Hawkins and senior forward Jasmine Goodwine delivered clutch performances in their last game and the Rice Owls women’s basketball team captured its first Women’s Basketball Invitational title with a 74-62 win over the University of North Carolina, Greensboro at an electric Tudor Fieldhouse.

Baker Kitchen cook Essence Derouen passed away this past Sunday, Mar. 9. According to ABC 13, she was an innocent bystander shot while sitting in her car, on her way home. The 21-year-old is survived by her 6-year-old son.

Rice students may be most familiar with the university’s emergency management systems as strings of texts or emails symptomatic of heavy rains or flooding, but they encompass much more than that. Rice University’s new crisis manager Jerusha Kasch took office in February of this year and began working on plans to improve the existing systems, including the development of a new crisis center building and online disaster preparedness training programs for students.

Former Sid Richardson College Senator Justin Onwenu won the 2017 election for Student Association president with 38 percent of first-choice votes. With 1875 voters in the presidential race, more votes were cast than in any SA election for decades.

Two weeks after the Moody Center for the Arts’ opening celebration, the center’s planned inaugural performance of the visual and dramatic arts theater department’s production “Proof” was relocated to Hamman Hall instead. This development comes amid greater concern from several VADA students and a faculty member that the center may not serve their needs.

A Rice Alliance for Mental Health Awareness (RAMHA) survey distributed to Rice undergraduates showed 44.4 percent of respondents said they have lived or currently live with a mental illness and 57 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they felt comfortable talking about mental health on campus.

University Court announced at the Student Association Senate meeting Monday night that the election for SA president would be extended five more days for those part-time students who did not originally receive a ballot.

James Patrick Griffith, a McMurtry College alum, passed away unexpectedly on Feb. 27. Griffith, known by his friends as “JP,” was training to become a flight instructor when he was involved in a plane crash near Denver. A Denver native, Griffith is survived by his parents, Bill and Emma, and siblings Gracie and Griff.

The total undergraduate charges for attending Rice University, including tuition, mandatory fees and room and board, will increase 3.1 percent to $59,458 for next school year, according to Vice President for Finance Kathy Collins. While the cost is the highest ever, its rate of increase was smallest in at least a decade.

The Student Association Senate passed Resolution #4, expressing support of the federal BRIDGE Act, in a 22-1-2 vote Monday night, after more than 30 minutes of debate in addition to discussions at two prior SA meetings.